Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The Golden Horseshoe Hears From MTCU
On June 17, over 180 employment and training service providers from the Hamilton-Burlington-Niagara region met for the 2nd Annual Golden Horseshoe / Bi-Regional Networking Day. ACTEW co-hosted this event, in partnership with the Employment Assistance Resource Network (EARN) of the Hamilton area.
The day included a spotlight on the changes the employment and training sector is experiencing as a result of the LMDA and the emergence of Employment Ontario. Sherree Mahood, MTCU’s Regional Director for the Western Region began this session.
Sherree set out MTCU’s vision for Employment Ontario and described what service providers will see next:
An energetic question and answer period followed Sherree’s presentation. Service providers raised concerns related to funding, engaging employers, the "Rapid Employment" philosophy and its effect on multi-barriered clients, and the status of portfolios related to client groups such as youth, and OW and ODSP recipients that are not covered in the LMDA.
In response to a question about how service providers can best prepare themselves for the changes, Sherree said that she felt confident community-based service deliverers would be supported by Employment Ontario. She encouraged agencies to create "service maps" that set out the "pathways" clients can take to services in their community. Such maps will illuminate the gaps in services as well as areas of duplication. These maps will also help agencies "learn to speak the same language" as the other service providers in their communities.
The room then broke out into small groups in a session guided by group leaders from St. Joseph Immigrant Women’s Centre Facilitating Inclusion program. The results of these discussions will be available from ACTEW once they are compiled and analyzed by Facilitating Inclusion.
The day included a spotlight on the changes the employment and training sector is experiencing as a result of the LMDA and the emergence of Employment Ontario. Sherree Mahood, MTCU’s Regional Director for the Western Region began this session.
Sherree set out MTCU’s vision for Employment Ontario and described what service providers will see next:
- ongoing regional community stakeholder engagement meetings
local planning processes for labour market development and service delivery charters; for the Western Region, this planning is scheduled for July and August
consultations on service delivery models, which for the Western Region will begin in September
the roll-out of 24 "Transition Projects"
An energetic question and answer period followed Sherree’s presentation. Service providers raised concerns related to funding, engaging employers, the "Rapid Employment" philosophy and its effect on multi-barriered clients, and the status of portfolios related to client groups such as youth, and OW and ODSP recipients that are not covered in the LMDA.
In response to a question about how service providers can best prepare themselves for the changes, Sherree said that she felt confident community-based service deliverers would be supported by Employment Ontario. She encouraged agencies to create "service maps" that set out the "pathways" clients can take to services in their community. Such maps will illuminate the gaps in services as well as areas of duplication. These maps will also help agencies "learn to speak the same language" as the other service providers in their communities.
The room then broke out into small groups in a session guided by group leaders from St. Joseph Immigrant Women’s Centre Facilitating Inclusion program. The results of these discussions will be available from ACTEW once they are compiled and analyzed by Facilitating Inclusion.
Labels: Meetings_and_Events, MTCU_Updates
